I can't remember why, but I was reading an article
on WebMD when I saw a sidebar linking to a sports injury quiz. Since a large part of what I do every day is
working to get to the bottom of running injuries, I decided to check it
out. Though most of the questions were
about traumatic injuries to the upper body, which are much more common in
contact sports, there were a few on running injuries. I'm pretty used to seeing misconceptions all
over the place when it comes to the causes and optimal treatments for running
injuries, but one slide bothered me because a) it was so aggressively incorrect
and b) WebMD content is supposed to be vetted and approved by a medical doctor,
which lends it an air of authority.
I've reproduced the offending slide below:
The available answers, by the way, were "torn
ligaments," "inflammation," "tiny fractures," and
"all of the above," none of which are wholly satisfactory.
As readers who have perused my Injury Series articles will know, "shin splints" is a vague term that usually
refers to medial tibial stress syndrome, which is a well-defined problem that
occurs on the medial edge of the tibia (your shinbone). Unfortunately, the term "shin splints"
has morphed into a catch-all term for any exercise-related pain in the
shin. WebMD's picture of an athlete
icing the lateral side of the upper shin certainly doesn't help. The equation of "shin splints" to
"shin pain of any sort" causes mundane things like shin muscle
fatigue and more serious things like anterior compartment syndrome to be
conflated with medial tibial stress syndrome under the improperly-used umbrella
term of "shin splints."
Worse, the answer—"inflammation of muscles,
tendons, bone, and other tissue surrounding the shin bone"—is demonstrably
incorrect. Though the main purpose of this post is to address the larger issue
of outdated or simply incorrect information about running injuries that's all
over the place on the internet, I should be thorough and formulate a more proper
answer to the question of what "shin splints"—understood to be medial
tibial stress syndrome—are caused by.